Startup CEO
Startup CEO

Author: Matt Blumberg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1119723663

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You’re only a startup CEO once. Do it well with Startup CEO, a "master class in building a business." —Dick Costolo, Former CEO, Twitter Being a startup CEO is a job like no other: it’s difficult, risky, stressful, lonely, and often learned through trial and error. As a startup CEO seeing things for the first time, you’re likely to make mistakes, fail, get things wrong, and feel like you don’t have any control over outcomes. Author Matt Blumberg has been there, and in Startup CEO he shares his experience, mistakes, and lessons learned as he guided Return Path from a handful of employees and no revenues to over $100 million in revenues and 500 employees. Startup CEO is not a memoir of Return Path's 20-year journey but a thoughtful CEO-focused book that provides first-time CEOs with advice, tools, and approaches for the situations that startup CEOs will face. You'll learn: How to tell your story to new hires, investors, and customers for greater alignment How to create a values-based culture for speed and engagement How to create business and personal operating systems so that you can balance your life and grow your company at the same time How to develop, lead, and leverage your board of directors for greater impact How to ensure that your company is bought, not sold, when you exit Startup CEO is the field guide every CEO needs throughout the growth of their company.

Entrepreneurship in the Wild
Entrepreneurship in the Wild

Author: Felipe G. Massa

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-08-10

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0262542579

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A learn-by-doing guide to developing, testing, and pitching a startup idea, balancing a pragmatic approach and rigorous academic content. This innovative book offers a learn-by-doing guide to entrepreneurship that balances practical advice with rigorous academic content. It introduces important concepts, provides highly engaging examples, and supplies the tools needed to put lessons into practice, creating a research-supported, step-by-step reference for developing, testing, and pitching any startup idea. By integrating lean startup principles, design thinking, and elements of the jobs-to-be-done framework, this combination textbook-workbook allows readers to choose for themselves whether, or to what extent, to engage with theory. All of the book's ten chapters encourage hands-on effort, providing readers with easy-to-follow steps, calls to action, and attainable milestones. Aspiring entrepreneurs will find this systematic approach to be more efficient than haphazard trial and error, and much more likely to yield concrete results. Chapters begin with a "mini case," offering real-world examples of each step in the process. These cases--all featuring entrepreneurs working outside the Silicon Valley bubble--include a meadery operator that turned customers into advocates by designing compelling experiences and the development of a dating app for dog lovers that found a unique niche in a crowded market. Throughout, readers are immersed in the activity of starting a business, guided not only through the successful development of a startup but also to an understanding of the principles underlying entrepreneurship. The book can be used as a text in undergraduate and graduate classes and as a reference by entrepreneurs and innovators.

Entrepreneur's Field Guide, The: The 3 Day Startup Method
Entrepreneur's Field Guide, The: The 3 Day Startup Method

Author: Andrew Zimbroff

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2021-09-27

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9811236712

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This book introduces the skills and mindset that are introduced during 3 Day Startup educational programs. It covers a wide range of topics encountered by early-stage entrepreneurs, including customer validation, iterative product development, developing preliminary business frameworks, start-up communications and networking, and balancing starting a business with other commitments. The content is actionable, concise, and easy to understand, focusing on pragmatic, applicable skills over dense academic theory and case studies. The information in this volume is easily accessible by entrepreneurs from all walks of life.3 Day Startup is an international non-profit organization that delivers entrepreneurship education in diverse settings around the world. It was founded in 2008 by graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin that wanted better resources for entrepreneurship education than was available at the time. To do this, it pioneered an intensive, extracurricular experiential curriculum that could be applied in highly diverse educational settings. Since its beginnings as a small group of graduate students at UT Austin, it has exploded into the global non-profit it is today. To date, 3 Day Startup has delivered almost 500 educational programs at over 175 different educational institutions in 35 countries worldwide.

Testing Business Ideas
Testing Business Ideas

Author: David J. Bland

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-11-06

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1119551412

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A practical guide to effective business model testing 7 out of 10 new products fail to deliver on expectations. Testing Business Ideas aims to reverse that statistic. In the tradition of Alex Osterwalder’s global bestseller Business Model Generation, this practical guide contains a library of hands-on techniques for rapidly testing new business ideas. Testing Business Ideas explains how systematically testing business ideas dramatically reduces the risk and increases the likelihood of success for any new venture or business project. It builds on the internationally popular Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas by integrating Assumptions Mapping and other powerful lean startup-style experiments. Testing Business Ideas uses an engaging 4-color format to: Increase the success of any venture and decrease the risk of wasting time, money, and resources on bad ideas Close the knowledge gap between strategy and experimentation/validation Identify and test your key business assumptions with the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas A definitive field guide to business model testing, this book features practical tips for making major decisions that are not based on intuition and guesses. Testing Business Ideas shows leaders how to encourage an experimentation mindset within their organization and make experimentation a continuous, repeatable process.

Startup Boards
Startup Boards

Author: Brad Feld

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1119859298

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A comprehensive guide on creating, growing, and leveraging a board of directors written for CEOs, board members, and people seeking board roles. The first time many founders see the inside of a board room is when they step in to lead their board. But how do boards work? How should they be structured, managed, and leveraged so that startups can grow, avoid pitfalls, and get the best out of their boards? Authors Brad Feld, Mahendra Ramsinghani, and Matt Blumberg have collectively served on hundreds of startup and scaleup boards over the past 30 years, attended thousands of board meetings, encountered multiple personalities and situations, and seen the good, bad, and ugly of boards. In Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors, the authors provide seasoned advice and guidance to CEOs, board members, investors, and anyone aspiring to serve on a board. This comprehensive book covers a wide range of topics with relevant tips, tactics, and best practices, including: Board fundamentals such as the board's purpose, legal characteristics, and roles and functions of board members; Creating a board including size, composition, roles of VCs and independent directors, what to look for in a director, and how to recruit directors; Compensating, onboarding, removing directors, and suggestions on building a diverse board; Preparing for and running board meetings; The board's role in transactions including selling a company, buying a company, going public, and going out of business; Advice for independent and aspiring directors. Startup Boards draws on the authors' experience and includes stories from board members, startup founders, executives, and investors. Any CEO, board member, investor, or executive interested in creating an active, involved, and engaged board should read this book—and keep it handy for reference.

Startup CXO
Startup CXO

Author: Matt Blumberg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-06-09

Total Pages: 649

ISBN-13: 1119772575

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One of the greatest challenges for startup teams is scaling because usually there's not a blueprint to follow, people are learning their function as they go, and everyone is wearing multiple hats. There can be lots of trial and error, lots of missteps, and lots of valuable time and money squandered as companies scale. Matt Blumberg and his team understand the scaling challenges—they've been there, and it took them nearly 20 years to scale and achieve a successful exit. Along the way they learned what worked and what didn’t work, and they share their lessons learned in Startup CXO. Unlike other business books, Startup CXO is designed to help each functional leader understand how their function scales, what to anticipate as they scale, and what things to avoid. Beyond providing function-specific advice, tools, and tactics, Startup CXO is a resource for each team member to learn about the other functions, understand other functional challenges, and get greater clarity on how to collaborate effectively with the other functional leads. CEOs, Board members, and investors have a book they can consult to pinpoint areas of weakness and learn how to turn those into strengths. Startup CXO has in-depth chapters covering the nine most common functions in startups: finance, people, marketing, sales, customers, business development, product, operations, and privacy. Each functional section has a "CEO to CEO Advice" summary from Blumberg on what great looks like for that CXO, signs your CXO isn't scaling, and how to engage with your CXO. Startup CXO also has a section on the future of executive work, fractional and interim roles. Written by leading practitioners in the newly emergent fractional executive world, each function is covered with useful tips on how to be a successful fractional executive as well as what to look for and how to manage fractional executives. Startup CXO is an amazing resource for CEOs but also for functional leaders and professionals at any stage of their career." —Scott Dorsey, Managing Partner, High Alpha

Architect + Entrepreneur
Architect + Entrepreneur

Author: Eric W. Reinholdt

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781511750172

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Part narrative, part business book; Architect + Entrepreneur is filled with contemporary, relevant, fresh tips and advice, from a seasoned professional architect building a new business. The guide advocates novel strategies and tools that merge entrepreneurship with the practice of architecture and interior design. The Problem:Embarking on a new business venture is intimidating; you have questions. But many of the resources available to help entrepreneur architects and interior designers start their design business lack timeliness and relevance. Most are geared toward building colossal firms like SOM and Gensler using outdated methods and old business models. If you're an individual or small team contemplating starting a design business, this is your field guide; crafted to inspire action. The Solution:Using the lean startup methodology to create a minimum viable product, the handbook encourages successive small wins that support a broader vision enabling one to, "think big, start small, and learn fast." It's a unique take on design practice viewed through the lens of entrepreneurship and is designed to answer the questions all new business owners face, from the rote to the existential. Questions about: - Startup costs - Business models (old and new) - Marriage of business and design - Mindset - Branding & naming (exercises and ideas) - Internet marketing strategies - Passive income ideas - Setting your fee - Taxes - Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) - Securing the work - Client relations - Software - Billing rates - Contracts Building a business isn't a singular act; it's a series of small steps. Using the outline found in Architect + Entrepreneur you can start today. The chapters are organized to guide you from idea to action. Rather than write a business plan you'll be challenged to craft a brand and you'll sell it using new technologies. Follow the guide sequentially and you'll have both the tools and a profitable small business.

Startup Accelerators
Startup Accelerators

Author: Richard Busulwa

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-01-29

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1119638593

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The must – read guidebook for entrepreneurs looking to get into accelerator programs and to build and scale their startups with speed Accelerator programs have become one of the most powerful and valuable resources for entrepreneurs seeking to learn rapidly, build powerful networks, raise capital, build their startups and do this at speed and scale. In recent years, the number of accelerator programs around the world has grown at an incredible rate, propelling startups such as AirBnB, Uber, DropBox, Reddit, and others — many to billion-dollar valuations. The number of accelerators, the differences in accelerator program offerings and the unique benefits and costs of different accelerator locations makes choosing the right accelerator a challenge. Selecting the wrong accelerator, failing to be accepted in the right one, or not fully taking advantage of all the accelerator has to offer can be costly, sometimes fatal. With the stakes so high, entrepreneurs need to understand all their options, choose carefully and do the right things to maximize their chances of success. Startup Accelerators is the go to guide for any entrepreneur, providing a firsthand look into the acceptance criteria and inner workings of different accelerator programs. Written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, this indispensable resource explains what different accelerator programs offer, how to get accepted, what to do during the program, how to raise money during accelerators, what to do after the program ends, and much more. Packed with real-world case studies and advice from leading experts on startup accelerator programs, this one-stop resource provides step-by-step guidance on the entire accelerator process. Reveals how accelerators help founders navigate different challenges in the startup journey Describes the differences in the benefits and costs of different accelerator programs Explains how to prepare accelerator applications Discloses what actions to take during an accelerator to make the most of it Depicts case studies of entrepreneurs’ accelerator applications, experiences and outcomes across different accelerators Features interviews with accelerator program managers, founders who went through accelerators, and investors in companies going through or having gone through accelerators Includes insightful data and reflections from entrepreneurship education researchers and academics Startup Accelerators: A Field Guide will prove to be invaluable for startup founders considering or going through accelerators, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs, educators, and other startup accelerator stakeholders.

Lost and Founder
Lost and Founder

Author: Rand Fishkin

Publisher: Penguin Group

Published: 2024-05-14

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0593853962

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Rand Fishkin, the founder and former CEO of Moz, reveals how traditional Silicon Valley "wisdom" leads far too many startups astray, with the transparency and humor that his hundreds of thousands of blog readers have come to love. Everyone knows how a startup story is supposed to go: A young, brilliant entrepreneur has a cool idea, drops out of college, defies the doubters, overcomes all odds, makes billions, and becomes the envy of the technology world. This is not that story. It's not that things went badly for Rand Fishkin; they just weren't quite so Zuckerberg-esque. His company, Moz, maker of marketing software, is now a $45 million/year business, and he's one of the world's leading experts on SEO. But his business and reputation took fifteen years to grow, and his startup began not in a Harvard dorm room but as a mother-and-son family business that fell deeply into debt. Now Fishkin pulls back the curtain on tech startup mythology, exposing the ups and downs of startup life that most CEOs would rather keep secret. For instance: A minimally viable product can be destructive if you launch at the wrong moment. Growth hacking may be the buzzword du jour, but initiatives can fizzle quickly. Revenue and growth won't protect you from layoffs. And venture capital always comes with strings attached. Fishkin's hard-won lessons are applicable to any kind of business environment. Up or down the chain of command, at both early stage startups and mature companies, whether your trajectory is riding high or down in the dumps: this book can help solve your problems, and make you feel less alone for having them.

Startup Boards
Startup Boards

Author: Brad Feld

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-12-09

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1118516826

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An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup's board of directors Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot on your plate—getting to your minimum viable product, developing customer interaction, hiring team members, and managing the accounts/books. Sooner or later, you have a board of directors, three to five (or even seven) Type A personalities who seek your attention and at times will tell you what to do. While you might be hesitant to form a board, establishing an objective outside group is essential for startups, especially to keep you on track, call you out when you flail, and in some cases, save you from yourself. In Startup Boards, Brad Feld—a Boulder, Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shares his experience in this area by talking about the importance of having the right board members on your team and how to manage them well. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support you, help you understand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold you accountable. Details the process of choosing board members, including interviewing many people, checking references, and remembering that there should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixing social time with business time, and much more Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practical guide to one of the most important pieces of the startup puzzle.